RLJ Companies Management Team

Robert L. Johnson
Founder & Chairman

Robert L. Johnson is the Founder of BET and the Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies.  In July 2007, Johnson was chosen by USA Today as one of the 25 most influential business leaders of the past 25 years.  The RLJ Companies is an innovative business network that owns or holds interests in a diverse portfolio of companies in the banking/financial services, real estate, hospitality, professional sports, automotive, film production and gaming industries. 

Core assets of The RLJ Companies include:

• RLJ Development, a privately held hotel investment company, which acquires and develops upscale select-service hotels, including Hilton-branded and Marriott-branded hotels in major North American urban markets.
• RLJ Urban Lodging Funds I, II and III, private equity real estate funds with over $4 billion under management.  The RLJ Urban Lodging Funds have acquired 127 hotels with a total value of over $3 billion, including a February 2006 transaction valued at $1.7 billion which added 100 hotels to the RLJ portfolio.
• RLJ Select Investments, LLC, a hedge fund of funds business with Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM), the asset management division of Deutsche Bank AG.
• RLJ Equity Partners, LLC, a private equity fund formed in association with The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm with $35 billion under management.  RLJ Equity Partners will make expansion and buy-out investments in the high end of middle-market companies, with a focus on the media and business services sectors.
• Urban Trust Bank, a federal thrift institution with branches in Florida, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.  Headquartered in D.C., UTB provides banking products for urban-based consumers with an emphasis on customer service, home ownership, and financial education.
• RolloverSystems, Inc. a financial services company in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the leading provider of outsourced retirement plan rollover services for financial institutions, plan sponsors, and third-party administrators.
• Bobcats Sports and Entertainment, LLC, the NBA franchise and arena operations in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the first major sports franchise owned by an African American.
• Our Stories Films, LLC, is a film production studio based in Los Angeles.  Our Stories Films produces urban comedies and family dramas and is the only studio where “greenlight” decisions are made exclusively by people of color.
• Casino and Gaming Entertainment (CAGE) is a video lottery gaming company headquartered in Puerto Rico and operating throughout the Caribbean.
• RLJ-McLarty-Landers Automotive Group is a partnership owning ten dealerships in the Southeast and Midwest United States.

Prior to forming The RLJ Companies, Mr. Johnson was founder and chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation’s first and leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news, sports and public affairs programming for the African American audience.  Under Mr. Johnson’s leadership, BET became the first African American-owned company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.  In 2000, Mr. Johnson sold BET to Viacom for approximately $3 billion and remained the Chief Executive Officer through 2005.

Currently, Mr. Johnson serves on the following boards: Lowe’s Companies, Inc., International Management Group, Strayer Education, NBA Board of Governors, Johns Hopkins University, Deutsche Bank Advisory Committee, Wal-Mart Diversity Committee, and The Business Council.